Is video gaming sport?

A new kind of competition has sprung up in recent years, inciting passion and fervour as sports have for centuries. However, these competitions take place not on a court or a field, but inside the world of video games.

So-called ‘e-sports‘ are growing rapidly and powerfully: tournaments offer a rich purse, a huge audience, and plenty of glory for the winners. E-sports have devoted fans, famous superstars, huge spectator numbers, and plenty of trash-talking.

Those involved claim competitive gaming requires just as much skill and mental focus. Comparably, chess is a sport; it requires strategy, is played worldwide, and is a competitive game. Those same principals can, and are, applied to video games. Participants claim they have to learn how opponents play, they have to practice, and they have to understand the rules and workings of each game.

Unlike other sports, such as football, soccer, basketball, gaming is not focused on a specific game. There are hundreds upon hundreds of individual games, all with completely different styles and methods of playing. Participants claim are no different to all skill-based competition – video games have a sense of competitiveness that drives individuals to perform to their best.